Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed Law
Is there a path to Super Regionals/Champs? The answer would be unlikely.
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So, let me get this straight. I'm going to be very blunt here, probably too blunt, but this is what an outsider sees.
If someone, for whatever reason, wants to go by official FIRST age ranges (rules made by FIRST) that do not match up with FiM age ranges (rules made by FiM), they do NOT get supported by FiM in terms of events, have extra travel*, and unless they make that extra travel
they have no conceivable way to get to anything beyond a local event.
I am assuming that they could (in theory) still get a grant--but if they are required to compete in FiM events to get the grant, and cannot due to age limits, then the grant would naturally need to be returned if it was even awarded in the first place.
If I might make a translation:
Play by FiM rules or don't play at all.** Just as a point of note, I realize that that's kind of the cost of working under a particular area's management--they set the rules--but at the same time, if those rules don't make sense for some reason--in this case, the varying development of kids--then maybe some thinking needs to be done. As a second note, additional commentary I might have based on that translation is left to the imagination other than that it's short and uses 4-5 letter words.
I don't see this going over well outside of MI if it is expanded--I might even go so far as to say the ChampionSplit discussion would be a gentle summer shower in comparison; witness the length and tone of this thread. As I noted earlier, different kids of the same age/grade level are going to be at different levels of readiness to move on/up, and thus having a one-size-fits-all solution is more of a Procrustean bed than anything else. On the other hand, I'm not sure if there's any better method for determining the readiness level given the rules being put into place. (Given the FIRST official age rules, there's a lot more flexibility. This may be a good thing, it may not be. Depends on the kids in your area, I suppose--I know of at least one middle-school FRC team, at least a few years ago there was one.)
*I am assuming, for purposes of this statement, that there are places they can travel to to compete that are not run by FiM. This may or may not be accurate.
**I'm deliberately leaving out the other robotics programs here, because--at this time--those aren't under discussion. And, if someone opts to compete in those, they would not be supported by grants, or by FiM, in any way, I assume--hopefully I'm incorrect.